Delay in internship, foreign MBBS graduates worried about future

Dharamsala, May 18

MBBS graduates, who have done their degrees from foreign countries and have cleared the Foreign Medical Graduate Entrance (FMGE) test, a degree validity exam in India, conducted by the Medical Council of India, have been waiting for their internship in the state for over 10 months.

The students, while talking to The Tribune, alleged that they passed the FMGE test in June 2023 and since then, they have been struggling to secure the mandatory internship seats in the state.

Neeta Rana, mother of an affected student, while talking to The Tribune, said on May 6, the state Health Department issued a notification regarding the allocation of colleges to foreign medical graduates.

“My daughter was at the top of the merit list issued by Health Department. Twenty seven seats were allocated in four government medical colleges of the state — 5 seats in the Hamirpur medical college, 8 in the Tanda medical college, 5 in the Nahan medical college and 9 in the Chamba medical college,” she said.

Neeta said later, the notification was withdrawn on May 9 saying that there were two medical colleges for foreign medical graduates. “It is 16th instant in the past 10 months when seats for foreign medical graduates have been cancelled. Students are not getting a proper response from the authorities concerned,” she added.

Neeta added that the students are worried about their future as in neighbouring states, the process is almost complete and most of the students of these states have been allotted seats in medical colleges.

Yatin, who did his MBBS from a foreign country, said a total of 50 graduated, who have cleared the FMGE test in Himachal, have been waiting for their internship for the past 8 months.

“Foreign medical graduated are worried about their future due to delay in their internship. Their future is at stake as without completing their internship, they can’t work privately or even qualify for the PG/MD entrance exams. It is the responsibility of the government to provide internship opportunities to them,” he said.

“Many other states are keeping internship seats to their own residents, leaving Himachal Pradesh’s graduates in a difficult spot. It is unfair to penalise them for pursuing their MBBS degrees or being residents of Himachal Pradesh,” Yatin alleged.

Hamirpur medical college principal Dr Ramesh Bharti said certain issues have come up due to which the internship of foreign medical graduates has been cancelled.

He said recently, the Himachal Pradesh High Court had ordered that no fee would be charged from these students for the internship. Now, the decision will be taken by the government in this regard.